Lasting Foundations

August 26, 2009

Kenya Trip Concludes

After three months preaching the Gospel and ministering to those who came across their path, the Lasting Foundations team has returned to Fort Collins, Colorado.

Prior to leaving Kenya, Gregg Rozeboom began creating the first in a series of Bible studies to give to interested students at Nyayo Girls Secondary School. The first issue of the study will deal with the nature of God prior to any creation, when the Trinity was all that existed.

The study will be followed up with others, one each month, leading any interested student in a chronological study through the Bible.

En route home, Jeremy Pond spent six days in New York City. During that time, he visited two of the largest churches in America. There are preliminary plans in place to have him conduct more extensive research on the largest churches in America in the near future, in order to gather objective information on the state of Christianity in the country.

Now that they have returned to the States, the team will be going there separate ways for the next few months. The Rozeboom family will be bouncing around the country visiting family and friends, and Gregg will be working to launch a new business to further ministry efforts. Jeremy will be engaging in several writing projects, while continuing to write for the Lasting Foundations website, and Shannon Taylor will be returning to her job in web design, continuing to assist with the LF website on an as-needed basis.

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August 4, 2009

Nyayo Project: Complete

Yesterday morning, Shelly Erickson, Stephanie Johnson and Luisa Taylor returned to the U.S. after completing a two-week mission project at Nyayo Girls Secondary School in Machakos.

The trio joined Gregg Rozeboom and Shannon Taylor for the program in which the women met one-on-one with interested students. While some of the conversations tended more toward small talk, many of the students opened up to the visitors about their lives, their hurts, their tragedies and their triumphs.

Upon leaving, all of the team members remarked about how impacted they were by the experience. Unlike so many short-term mission trips that leave an orphanage painted but lives unchanged, the participants went home in the knowledge that the conversations and counseling they engaged in would not soon be forgotten by these students.

Most exciting for the team was the abundance of opportunities to share the hope and love of Christ. In the course of the meetings, they encountered several students who had been saved as a result of Gregg's ministry there. The testimonies and countenances of these students were absolutely thrilling.

During the course of their time here, Shelly and Stephanie accompanied the Rozeboom family to Kisumu near Lake Victoria, and the team took part in a crusade put on by another group from the States. While they were gone, Shannon and Luisa visited a slum in Nairobi where they had the opportunity to visit with a group of preschool age students an pass out their end of term awards.

The two week program may now be complete, but Lasting Foundations involvement with Nyayo is far from over. Roughly fifteen girls voiced interest in participating in an ongoing Bible study. Gregg will be heading up the effort to develop this study which will likely be a multi-month chronological study through the Bible.

If you are interested in learning more about how you can invest in the lives of the girls at Nyayo, please contact us at gregg@lastingfoundations.com.

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July 24, 2009

'Run' Video Massive Success

Lasting Foundations contributing author Ben Davenport has achieved massive success with a short video he put together featuring a sermon that Carter Conlon of Times Square Church preached in the wake of 9/11.

The video was originally featured on www.braveheartedgospel.com, but was added to YouTube and eventually to Tangle.com (formerly GodTube) where it has accrued more than 100,000 views.

You can watch this stirring video here. You can also check out a similar video that Ben created here.

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July 21, 2009

Nyayo Day 1

Shelly Erickson, Stephanie Johnson and Luisa Taylor arrived yesterday evening at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. After returning to the house, Gregg briefed them on the plans for the week and what they should expect in interacting with the students at Nyayo Girls Secondary School.

Gregg and the rest of the team headed out to the school early this morning and began ministering. The drive proved an interesting experience for the three new team members, as a lack of light nearly caused Gregg to run over police spikes!

After Gregg gave the message during the morning chapel service, Shelly, Stephanie, Luisa and Shannon all split up and spent the morning and early afternoon meeting one-on-one with the students in Form One (the equivalent of ninth grade in the States). Despite some trouble with the language barrier, the team was able to interact with each girl on a personal level and point them all to Christ. Hopefully, the language barrier will prove to be less of an issue as the team begins interacting with older students.

The team will return to Machakos again tomorrow for a full day of ministry.

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July 19, 2009

Lasting Foundations on Twitter

Lasting Foundations is now on Twitter under the user name "LastingFndtns". Follow us there for news regarding website updates, ministry activities and more!

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July 18, 2009

Nyayo Project in Full Swing

The Lasting Foundations team is now two weeks into the Nyayo Girls Secondary School project, and the results so far are encouraging.

As the team has read through the hundreds of essays the girls have submitted, they have gotten to know the girls far more closely here than at any school previously visited. The essays are now being analyzed and prepared for the arrival of the team from Stone Mountain Church this coming Tuesday. Luisa Taylor, Stephanie Johnson and Shelly Erickson will then be taking the essays and sitting down with each student individually.

The purpose of the one-on-one time will be two-fold. The visiting team will help each girl condense her essays into one final essay telling her life story. They will spend personal time with each girl, getting to know them and finding ways to point them to Christ.

Gregg will also be continuing to teach various classes on writing over the next two weeks as well as teaching the entire school through the Bible during morning chapel services.

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July 17, 2009

Lasting Foundations Receives First Media Exposure

Jeremy yesterday received the following e-mail from Patrick, one of the gentlemen he met during his trip to Uganda:

"Last week Saturday, Benny Hinn was the topic of discussion on a mid-morning Radio program, it was on a Christian radio station called Power FM. The host of the program was completely against the prosperity gospel of Benny and his recent $50 milking of the poor people of Uganda in regard to his so-called Fire Conference. The question of discussion was whether what Benny is doing is biblically right or not.
 
To my surprise, more than 3/4 (three quarters) of the callers were all in favour of Benny and many of them blamed the host for what they called disrespecting the man of God. I was so depressed and I felt so bad for the fact that the majority of my country men still don't know the truth. I personally called to try and make my contribution to support the host but the line was so congested that I couldn't get the opportunity to say anything. What I did was to send a text message to the station which was read on air, I advised people to visit www.lastingfoundations.com for the truth. My prayer is that Lasting Foundations would soon open its ministry to cover Uganda and I am personally willing to do whatever it takes to get it done just in case you plan it."

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July 7, 2009

Nyayo Program Kicks Off

Gregg Rozeboom, Jeremy Pond and Tonee Ndungu drove out to Nyayo Girls Secondary School this morning to present the final program proposal to the school's principal and students. The proposal was very well received, and the principal and the students are excited about what is in store for the coming weeks.

Beginning today, interested students will write an essay every day answering ten questions (one question per day). These questions have been tailored to draw out the story of each girl's life. At the end of the ten days, every girl that has faithfully written all ten essays will begin to whittle them down into a single essay that fully tells her story.

Luisa Taylor, Shelly Erickson and Stephanie Johnson will be flying out from the States to participate in Phase Two. They'll be helping these girls craft their final stories, and they'll be spending one-on-one time with each girl getting to know them.

This program will also include classes conducted by Gregg, Jeremy and Tonee teaching the students about writing and using the Internet to find scholarship, collegiate and job opportunities. The vision is that this program will equip these girls to position themselves as best they can to receive these kinds of opportunities.

The team will be going back and forth to Nyayo quite a bit in the coming weeks, and everyone is thrilled about the programs potential and the opportunity to further develop their relationships with these students.

UPDATE: Gregg and his family returned to Nyayo on July 8, 2009 and had a good time teaching the girls about the wonders of creation from Genesis chapter 1. Gregg also taught a class on writing, and he received essays from the 156 participating students.

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July 6, 2009

Sacho Drama Program a Great Success

The Lasting Foundations team returned to Sacho yet again this past weekend to conduct a four-day "through-the-Bible" drama presentation.

After a brief demonstration of several drama techniques, Gregg Rozeboom held student auditions on Thursday night. On Friday and Saturday, Gregg, Katie and Jeremy all trained groups of students in their roles for evening performances. Despite the shortage of preparation time, the students did a phenomenal job memorizing their lines, and they brought great energy to the stage.

As the program wrapped up on Sunday morning, Gregg brought the weekend's program to a close with a powerful Gospel message challenging the students and the school's administration with the letter to the church at Laodicea. As God told the Laodicean church that he wished they were either hot or cold, Gregg told the audience that God wants them to either accept him completely or reject him completely rather than play religious games with him.

The students were visibly impacted by the program, with several students telling the team to please "Come back" while they are still in Kenya.

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June 30, 2009

Return to Sacho

This past weekend, the Rozeboom family along with Shannon Taylor returned to Sacho Secondary School to meet with the school’s administration regarding presenting a program for the students.

Sacho’s principal and chaplain were thrilled with the proposal. This coming weekend, the Lasting Foundations team will execute a four-day, through-the-Bible drama presentation using the students from the school. The program will begin Thursday night, continue through Friday night and all day Saturday before concluding on Sunday morning.

The students were also excited about the coming program, and they are getting energized at the prospect of a longer, more in-depth program potentially happening at some point next year.

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June 22, 2009

Lasting Foundations Team Enjoys the Indian Ocean

After bouncing around the Kenyan countryside for the better part of a month, the Lasting Foundations team has taken a break from ministry operations to visit Mombasa, the country's main port city.

A few days on the beach have been wonderful for all concerned. Gregg has taken up wind-surfing, JJ learned to swim underwater when Shannon recommended that he "swim like a dolphin," Jeremy and Shannon have taken kayaks out, and everyone has enjoyed a few days of life moving a little slower.

Meanwhile, work continues on research to move various ministry projects forward.

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June 15, 2009

Rozeboom Family Returns to Kabarak

The Rozeboom family returned to Kabarak University this weekend to present a proposal to leaders from Sacho High School.

Thursday evening, Gregg Rozeboom and Jeremy Pond put together a proposal for a week-long evangelistic drama class that would walk the school through the entire Bible, fully explaining the need for and the plan of salvation.

Gregg had the opportunity to present the proposal to the principal, deputy principal and chaplain of Sacho High School. Gregg had already presented at Sacho during the two-week tour with the team from Liberty, and both parties are eager to work together again.

The Sacho leadership expressed their excitement at the prospect of the Lasting Foundations (or Unfolding Drama Ministries) team returning to the school to work further with their students. Their schedule for the summer is already set, so it may be a year or so before the week-long program can be implemented, but it looks as though the team will be returning for a weekend program at some point in the coming months.

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June11, 2009

Ministry Continues in Kenyan Schools

The Lasting Foundations team this week continued its ministry in schools in Kenya's Machakos region.

On Tuesday, Gregg Rozeboom presented the Gospel and the story of David and Goliath for kids at a primary school next door to Nyayo Girls Secondary School. When Gregg spoke about David being a shepherd boy, he asked if any of the kids were shepherds. Every hand was raised.

Being a rural school, most of the kids come from poor families. The government funds six of the teachers, but the school requires nine to function properly. Currently, many of the parents are struggling to pay the monthly 100 Kenya shilling (KSH) fee to provide for the other three teachers. That's roughly equivalent to $1.25 a month.

Gregg and his wife, Katie, spent the remainder of the week at Nyayo presenting to each class individually. Gregg challenged the girls to be either completely cold toward God or completely hot in their faith, but not to wallow in a lukewarm Christianity.

The day after Gregg and Katie returned to Nairobi, two girls from the Liberty team returned to the school in the morning just to say farewell. They ended up staying at the school until 5:30 that evening. So many girls came up to talk to them about their lives. Many of the girls wanted to talk about the sessions with Gregg, one of them said that she was saved in that session.

A number of the girls wrote letters to "Pastor" Gregg, one of them wrote, "...Thank you so much for preaching which has really changed my life a lot. It seems that you were sent by God to come and rescue a dying soul... From the sermons you have given us so far has boosted me a lot, that I should lay my foundation to Jesus Christ because he can never fail me. Also I have decided to remain extremely HOT for Jesus Christ because He died for my sins and He is the only one who can save my life."

Testimonies like this have been very encouraging, and the team is looking forward to further opportunities in Kenya's schools.

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June 8, 2009

Jeremy Returns Unscathed from Benny Hinn's "Fire Conference"

Jeremy Pond spent the weekend in Kampala, Uganda, conducting research at a Benny Hinn Fire Conference.

Roughly 10,000 people attended the conference, which was geared toward pastors and business leaders. Thanks to a fortunate contact, Jeremy was given a seat on the front row and a VIP card on which the event coordinators had written, "Bishop Jeremy Pond."

This gave him an excellent view of the weekend's activities, from Friday night's teaching/miracle session, to Saturday morning's two-and-half-hour appeal for money, to Saturday night's close with another teaching/miracle/anointing session. He was also privy to a number of a fascinating conversations, both with members of the Benny Hinn Ministries staff and other conference attendees.

For a more complete recap of the weekend's events, please visit Jeremy's blog.

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June 5, 2009

Jeremy and the Televangelist

For research purposes Jeremy is going to a Benny Hinn crusade this weekend in Kampala, Uganda.

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June 5, 2009

Two Week Evangelistic School Ministry Completed

In the past two weeks, the Lasting Foundations team has been from the mountainous southwestern region of Kenya to the flat, fertile areas in the Great Rift Valley.  During those weeks, Gregg Rozeboom preached the Gospel to over 25 different schools at 15 different meetings. 

It was greatly encouraging to see the enthusiasm some of the teachers, administrators and students had for the Gospel.  Plans are now in motion for the Lasting Foundations team to return to some of these schools later in the summer and fall for longer discipleship sessions and community outreach presentations.

In the coming days, the Lasting Foundations team will be continuing to travel with Dr. Jones Kaleli, his family, and a medical team from the states, as they retrace some steps from the previous weeks to continue.

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May 27, 2009

School Ministry Underway

Beginning Wednesday, May 20, the Lasting Foundations team set out with Dr. Jones Kaleli and his team from Liberty University to visit 15 schools in rural areas.

For the past week, the entire group has been based out of Machakos, a town roughly an hour and a half southeast of Nairobi. Each day, the team has been rising early and visiting two schools. At each school, the students from Liberty lead the kids in singing, in a Bible drill, and share a testimony. Gregg Rozeboom has also been able to preach the Gospel in every school and in a Maasai church as well.

The reception the team has received varies with each school, but overall the administrations and the students have been very welcoming. They are truly excited to have such a group coming. For many of these schoolchildren, the team's arrival marked the first time they had ever seen an mzungu (white person).

On the spiritual side, there have been many professions of faith from children who have heard the message. Only God can know where all of their hearts lay, but the expressions on some of their faces as they've come up to tell Gregg about the decision they made make it clear they have been changed.

Overall, the team's first week in the schools has been very encouraging. Gregg has been making excellent contacts, and plans are already in the works to return to these schools once the Liberty team returns to America.

The team will be in two schools today, and one school tomorrow before breaking for the weekend. They will then present at a few more schools next week before the Liberty trip comes to an end on Tuesday.

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May 20, 2009

Meets with Second-Largest Paper in Nairobi

Gregg Rozeboom and Jeremy Pond met today with a decision maker at the Standard, Kenya's second-largest newspaper, to introduce them to Good and Evil, a graphic-novel quality picture Bible produced by No Greater Joy Ministries.

The meeting was necessarily brief, as the team was slated to leave town in the afternoon with the ministry team from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Even so, they were excited at the prospects, and the gentlemen we spoke with seemed genuinely interested in the project.

When the team returns to Nairobi they will conduct a follow-up meeting to further explore the possibility of spreading the Gospel through Kenyan papers.

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May 19, 2009

Team Arrives in Nairobi

Gregg and Katie Rozeboom arrived in Nairobi, Kenya, this morning along with their three young children and Shannon Taylor, the Lasting Foundations photographer and web guru.

They met Jeremy Pond at the airport and went to have breakfast at a local coffee shop. After a late morning nap, the entire team went to Nairobi's Village Market to secure wireless broadband Internet access and run a few other errands.

That evening, the team met Dr. Jones Kaleli and his team from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. In the course of the next couple of weeks, the Lasting Foundations team will travel with the Liberty team to schools scattered around southeastern Kenya. Gregg will preach the Gosepl as part of the presentation the students from Liberty will be making at each school.

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April 27, 2009

May Trip Adds a New Face

In preparation for the May trip, Gregg and Katie Rozeboom have asked their friend and web designer Shannon Taylor to join them. She’ll be leaving with the entire Rozeboom family on May 17th, and they’ll all be meeting up with Jeremy Pond in Nairobi in the early morning hours of May 19th.

During the time in Kenya, Shannon will work closely with the rest of the team to launch Christian websites targeting Africa. She will also be responsible for aiding in the care of the Rozeboom children, JJ, Elizabeth and Elijah.

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April 20, 2009

Roadblocks to Faith

Jeremy Pond visited Ridgeways Baptist Church yesterday morning. After the service, he spent several hours in conversation with three of the men from the church.

In the course of the conversation, these men made it clear that two of the greatest problems facing the church in Kenya were the prosperity gospel and rampant tribalism.

Following disputed elections in 2007, racial violence (there are 42 different ethnic groups in Kenya alone) resulted in the deaths of over a thousand people and nearly destroyed the country. Sadly, even the church split along racial lines during the conflict.

We were told the story of one woman who's home was burned down by members of another tribe. She went to her pastor seeking aid and counsel. However, her pastor was a member of the same tribe as the men who had burned her home. He told her, “It’s time for you to leave.”

Even now that the violence has passed, it's clear that the tension and underlying hatred still remains.

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April 17, 2009

Radio Project Hits a Snag

Yesterday, Jeremy Pond visited the Communication Commission of Kenya to obtain preliminary information on starting a radio station.

While it certainly would not be cost prohibitive, we have hit a couple of procedural roadblocks. At the moment, the CCK is overhauling their entire system, and no new licenses will be granted our even considered until that process has been completed. We’re told this will not happen until July at the earliest. Even then, the waiting list currently has 150 names ahead of ours.

We would still very much like to see this radio station become a reality, but at least for the time being it seems we have no choice but to wait.

Please pray that if it is God's will for us to move forward with a radio station He would open the appropriate doors.

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April 16, 2009

Rescheduling

Gregg and Katie were originally planning on traveling around America and Canada this summer, but there plans changed and they are now in Africa. They are hoping to reschedule events in the USA for this fall.

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April 15, 2009

Scouting Trip Recap

Gregg Rozeboom and Ben Davenport have returned to the United States. In the course of the week, Ben and Gregg preached in several different churches, and the general feeling is that there is a hunger here for the truth, but in general, that truth is not being preached. We’ll continue to evaluate that assumption through Jeremy’s reports in the coming weeks.

Jeremy Pond remained behind in Kenya to continue conducting interviews with believers and do research on several different projects. Here’s a quick rundown:

Radio – With the predominance of the prosperity gospel in Kenyan media, there is a great need for the truth of the cross to be proclaimed from the airwaves. In the coming months, we’ll be looking into the possibility of establishing a 24-hour, city-wide radio station that would proclaim that message.

Newspaper – No Greater Joy Ministries has produced a phenomenal picture Bible called Good and Evil. Written by Michael Pearl and illustrated by former Marvel artist Danny Bulandi, this book from cover to backside points to Christ. We’ll be trying to get it into newspapers here in Nairobi as a featured comic.

Discipleship – Joseph came to church on Sunday, and should be continuing his discipleship process with Jeremy leading him through the Good and Evil book.

Interviews – Jeremy will be conducting interviews with as many willing people as he can find in an attempt to more clearly understand the state of Christianity in Kenya.

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April 11, 2009

Salvation in the Park

Today, we joined Pastor William and his church for a picnic in Nairobi’s City Central Park. Amidst the monkeys that swarmed around and tried to steal our food, Gregg preached to the people. He opened with a dramatic telling of the story of David and Goliath, then transitioned into a message about the giant of sin in our lives that we cannot defeat on our own.

As he spoke, a man who had just been sitting in the park inched closer and closer to the crowd. Gregg noticed him, and after he finished, went over and spoke to the man. His name was Joseph, and he asked Gregg one simple question.

“Can you tell me more about Jesus?”

Gregg spent the next ten to fifteen minutes sharing his testimony and expounding on the Gospel message. He’ll be joining us at Ridgeways Baptist Church this coming Sunday.

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April 8, 2009

Team Hits the Ground Running

So it begins.

The team, comprised of Gregg Rozeboom, Ben Davenport and Jeremy Pond, landed in Nairobi around 6 a.m. Pastor Elijah Wanje of Ridgeways Baptist Church met us at the airport, and we immediately began discussing with him the state of Christianity in Kenya.

Following breakfast and a quick de-brief, we crashed for a quick nap before heading out to meet Pastor William. William leads a small church in a slum not far from Ridgeways. Ben shared the Gospel with the church that night, and Pastor William translated into Swahili.

It was a blessing to see folks in such a situation, with open sewage running through their street, respond to the same Gospel that gives life to all who believe.

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